So the verdict came down, and surprising no one — Brady was reinstated and Roger Goodell was defeated. The real question after all of this is what it means for the NFL as a whole, how will this whole fiasco that unfolded affect the game? The answer is really complicated and there are a lot of potential outcomes. Part of the problem is that as fans we eat this up, though with football back, it’ll be less at the front. Still, it feeds our appetite for the sport and the continued controversy focuses us in even further.
Effect on This Season of Football
The most likely effect on this season of football is that there isn’t one. Aside of course from an adjustment to the betting lines across the board and particularly for the AFC east. The analysts and the meta-game critics will likely have a heyday with what the long-term implications will be, and they have every right to do so. It will likely have some effect in the long term, but we’ll get to that later.
The change to the games that are going to be coming up is going to be immeasurable, whether small or large. The Patriots as a team may play with a fervor and self-righteous intensity that will be something to behold, particularly for a group that so recently won the sports highest honor. Patriots fans will of course be able to play victims and buy up more Super Bowl merch, to show off how unstoppable their team is.
Effect on Goodell
Everyone, including Roger Goodell, knows that this case didn’t turn out well for the commissioner. It was a risk, right from the start, and it was a risk that he lost. However, unlike Brady who would have been on leave without pay, Goodell only damages the most important thing to any leader: his name — not that it meant anything to anyone who isn’t a team owner at this point.
He has become the face of the NFL, which is not a good thing to be for an organization with such a checkered of a record. He has now come to a position where he is attributed as directly responsible for many of the characteristics of the sport a whole. While this isn’t a fair attribution as he doesn’t have that much power but that’s not what people see. If he remains in this role of figurehead it would be very easy for him to come to be a scapegoat as well. If his credibility continues to be damaged and ties the league’s in with it, there’s no reason that he wouldn’t at some point be fired to salvage the sport’s more honorable side of the reputation.
Ultimately, if he’s smart, he’s going to try and push himself away from the forefront. The best way to do this would be to set up an independent commission to handle punishments. This will get him some breathing room and allow him to head the organization without being judge, jury, and executioner. The primary problem with this is that it’s going to have to wait for another five years, when the current agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players’ Association expires, before it can be negotiated.
Effect on Fans
The fans are tired of Goodell and his inconsistent punishments and embarrassing the league at every possible turn. But with football entering its second week, he will be forgotten as fans focus on their individual teams, which works into Goodell’s favor. The sentence always goes like this: “I’m tired of the controversy, let the season start already!” Cue bigger ratings. It’s more than a little disgusting and if it is an actual strategy by Goodell and not just serendipity the man is one of the greatest business geniuses ever.
Effect on the Game
There may be a variety of long-term implications from this media circus. However, I’ll tell you one thing for certain that either won’t be affected, or at least would be beneficially affected by it. That’s the popularity of the sport. At this point there’s little to nothing that can stop the powerhouse in America that is American football. It’s more popular today than ever. And guess what, it’s going to stay that way.
The main reason being that Americans don’t watch the NFL because they care about the condition of the player’s concussion risks, the home lives of the players, whether or not there’s cheating going on by one organization or another or even because they want their kids to be doing it one day. We watch it because it’s good television and it’s a whole lot better than raking up the leaves on a day off.
Tom Brady image by Keith Allison from Flickr.com